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Short abstract:

The aim of this session is to help attendees to reflect on their roles as researchers in society, how their roles can help address the climate crisis, and to provide an example of how they themselves can engage with societal actors.

Abstract:

The urgency surrounding climate change is increasing in research and policy domains, yet many citizens feel distanced from science and politics. Traditional science communication methods do not seem to reduce the distance between citizens and (knowledge) institutes. In our project “Climate Research in Dialogue”, we experiment with citizens’ assemblies as a new form of science communication to bridge this gap between society and science and to better align scientific knowledge with citizens’ lived experiences. In this workshop, attendees will experience how citizens' assemblies can be used as a new form of research and science communication. We will guide attendees through a practice citizens’ assembly regarding the roles climate scientists (can) take in mitigating the climate crisis and on preferred methods to engage with citizens and other societal actors. The aim of this session is to help attendees to reflect on their roles as researchers in society, how their roles can help address the climate crisis, and to provide an example of how they themselves can engage with societal actors. After this practice session we will hold a brief presentation on our own citizens’ assembly experiences and findings. We will discuss: 1. Theoretical and methodological underpinnings of the climate citizen assemblies;   2. Activities used during the assemblies and how the assemblies may help build relations between scientists and citizens; 3. Preliminary findings and themes from the climate citizen assemblies (e.g. proposed climate science research-questions; roles and collaborations between citizens, scientists); 4. Efforts to ensure social impact, e.g. through cross-sector collaboration.